Paid Parental Leave was Tony Abbott’s signature policy before he came into power as Prime Minister last year. It was supposed to be a demonstration that the Liberal Party ‘got working women’ although most working women would deny that effectively being paid to stay at home showed a real understanding of women’s issues.

There has been much debate about the merits of Abbott’s paid parental leave proposal and a huge push to invest in childcare rather than paid leave – although in an ideal world it would not be an either/or situation – but no one really suspected that Abbott would ditch the policy himself. Or maybe they did.

Dropped down the agenda

Yesterday it was reported that Abbott’s signature paid parental leave policy has dropped down the parliamentary agenda and will be legislated only after the government finishes arguing with the Senate to pass its controversial budget.

Senior ministers have stressed that the Prime Minister and Treasurer Joe Hockey remain committed to the scheme despite the fact it is deeply unpopular among some members of the federal Coalition.

Frontbencher Scott Morrison hosed down reports the expensive policy has been shelved because of political difficulties getting it through the Senate, where it faces resistance from the crossbench and internal dissent from Coalition Senators opposed to the policy.

“A government source said the scheme had been placed in the “too-hard basket” because the Coalition was fighting on too many fronts and struggling to get its basic budget measures passed by the Senate.

Several other sources said a message had been discreetly sent to Mr Abbott that his pet policy could face an embarrassing defeat in the Senate.

Coalition senator Ian Macdonald had been an outspoken critic of the policy and welcomed the delay.

“I’m pleased that Mr Abbott has listened to the overwhelming majority of Australians in deferring the scheme until the country can afford it,” he said.

Nationals senator John Williams had previously said the scheme should only be introduced when the economy was performing strongly, when there was a “four” in front of economic growth and the unemployment rate.

“Affordability remains the issue and also the problems in the childcare industry need to be addressed,” he said.

Crossbench senators Bob Day and Nick Xenophon urged Mr Hockey to scrap the scheme during budget negotiations in Adelaide last week.

Budget is top priority

“No, that’s not the case,” Mr Morrison told the ABC’s Insiders. “The Prime Minister and the Treasurer remain very committed to this initiative and they have the full support of their cabinet.” But Mr Morrison conceded that legislating the PPL scheme was not at the top of the government’s political agenda, that top priority was being handed to the budget. “The budget is the priority, to get those measures through, and all of our other priorities then will be taken through the Parliament in an orderly fashion,” he said.

The government needs the support of the Greens to get its PPL legislation through the Senate, but the Greens have demanded detailed information about the scheme, including how it will be funded and whether it has sufficient support from the Coalition party room. A spokesman for the party’s Deputy Leader Adam Bandt confirmed the government has not yet provided any of the information the Greens want before they offer their support for the policy.

News.com.au reports that Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong accused the government of “hiding” the details of the divisive policy. “It’s a signature policy which his backbench is criticising; a signature policy where he’s hiding the legislation; and a signature policy where he’s hiding the cost because the Budget that was handed down hides from Australians the true cost of the Paid Parental Leave scheme,” he said.

The Paid Parental Leave scheme is due to begin on July 1 next year.

Do you think the Paid Parental Leave Scheme should be a priority of the government or do you think the whole scheme needs to be reconsidered?